Haunted Ontario 2-Book Bundle. Terry Boyle
somehow she is unnoticed by those around her. Perhaps she is the daughter of the hotelkeeper. The confectionary store in the same building offers a host of merchandise. No doubt the little girl in the hotel craves some of these sweets.
The first building on the site was built by a mason, James Good, who erected a workshop and residence on the property in 1859. He sold the property to Daniel Ireland in 1865 and he turned the building into a hotel.
At the time, Port Perry was a going concern. In 1871 the community received a major boost when the Port Whitby to Port Perry railroad was completed. Additional surveys of lots had been made, property greatly increased in value, and large additions were planned to meet the demands of rapidly-growing businesses. Hotel owners were delighted by the development. What could possibly happen to halt this progress? Fire!
Two fires in less than a year destroyed the Port Perry business section. The first fire broke out in the Thompson House, then known as Ruddy’s Hotel, in November 1883. Except for one small hand engine, there was no fire extinguishing equipment. Most of the buildings were wood frame and the fire spread quickly. From Ruddy’s Hotel corner along the north side of Queen Street, the fire spread to McCaw’s Jewelry store and everything was burned. With winter fast-approaching little was done toward rebuilding, and what the fire of 1883 missed, the fire of 1884 did not.
At 20 minutes to 12:00 p.m. on July 3, 1884, a large fire started in the sheds of Ben McQuay’s hotel, which stood on the site of the present-day post office. By daylight, every place of business on the main street was in cinders with the exception of William Tummond’s store and this hotel, then owned by Daniel Ireland.
The community rallied to face the devastation of its town. A shortage of nails and building supplies contributed to a slow start. In time, however, life continued as it had prior to these two incredible fires. Meanwhile, Daniel Ireland’s hotel maintained its services to the town.
Its time was to come, however, and tragedy struck one winter evening when a fire began in the adjoining confectionery store. The fire brigade quickly responded to the emergency. In the attempt to save the hotel, one firefighter, Joseph DeShane, was struck down and pinned by burning timbers. Although the crew came to the rescue quickly, Joseph sustained severe injuries. One eye and half of his face was severely disfigured for life. In a few hours there were but ashes and charred stone foundation remaining.
Downtown Port Perry after the horrific fire. The building in the background is one of the only ones that remained standing.
Downtown Port Perry, facing east, after rebuilding at the turn of the century. The building located at the end of the row was one of the few to survive the fire.
No newspaper accounts of the fire are to be found — as a result of yet another fire in the newspaper office which destroyed several years of newspaper files forever. No one is left to tell the story of this tragic hotel fire. Had any guest or hotel workers died that night? Will we ever know? For many years the property remained vacant, the old foundation hidden from view by vegetation.
After the fire, Daniel Ireland sold the property to Andy Campbell who built a carpentry shop on the land. In 1913 James Carnegie purchased the property from Campbell, tore down the workshop and built a new, two-storey, red-brick house the following year using the old foundation for the new home. James and Louisa Murray bought the house from Carnegie and the dwelling became known as the Murray House. The Murrays raised a large family there. James was the manager of the Osler Estate south of the causeway. The Murrays left one day, as people do, and in the 1950s a man with the same last name rented the house. He had three children who all slept in one bedroom.
The first reported ghost sightings occurred in the house at this time. Apparently, an elderly female ghost would check in on the children at night. She was a benevolent presence and the children felt very comfortable with her. The youngsters saw her on several occasions and openly referred to her as their night visitor. The Murray family eventually moved out of the house.
In 1979 the Murray house became a tea shop and restaurant and the property once again became a festive centre in Port Perry. Was history repeating itself? Rumours of ghosts began to circulate around town during this period. Had the first Murray family kept the haunting a secret or were they unaware of the spirits in their home?
Carol Morrow and Peter Kirk operated the establishment and subsequently sold it to Whitney and Mark Freeman. The Freemans were unaware of hauntings upon purchase, but not for long!
“We had just bought the house when one night the dog went crazy. Our dog is normally quite passive and well-behaved. This night the dog ran through the kitchen door and down the back hall. We followed her and she eventually arrived at the entranceway to the sun porch. She was baring her teeth and snarling. She went to table 13 and started barking. We didn’t know what to think. We had just moved in. We were not aware of the ghost stories,” said Whitney.
Mark admitted that he became quite annoyed, “I had the place rewired when we bought it. Then every light in the house reversed itself, but not at one time. We would be sitting in a room with the light off and it would suddenly come on. We had to reverse the procedure of the switches. I called an electrician in, but he had no explanation. You had to believe that something was going on. There was no logical explanation.”
The Freemans shared their experiences on The Dini Petty Show. Mark spoke of two occurrences that particularly intrigued him. One occurred on the second floor of the house by the attic door. In those days the Freemans operated the business on the first floor. The second floor and attic space were used for living quarters.
“I used to have an office on one side of the attic door and a living room on the other. It only took three steps to pass from the office to the living room, past the attic door. One day I noticed the attic door open. It shouldn’t have been open since a deadbolt lock always kept it shut. I locked the door and went into the living room. About three seconds later I turned around and noticed that the door was open again,” said Mark.
One year Mark and Whitney decided to take separate vacations. “I intended to leave for my vacation the day after Whitney returned from hers. By now I was quite aware of spirit activity in the house. This particular evening I was going downstairs to the basement. At the bottom of the stairs a light switch was positioned approximately five or six feet away. I told them ‘I’m going away for a couple of days and I know that you like to disturb Whitney. I don’t want you to do anything while I am away. Is that understood?’ The moment I said ‘understood’ all the lights on the bottom floor came on.”
Whitney had experiences as well. “She woke me up out of a deep sleep. I had never seen her, but I had heard and felt her. I knew it was a woman. It was a woman’s voice calling out my name.”
Whitney’s pet rabbit slept in a cage in her bedroom. The cage had a water bottle attachment and made quite a noise when the rabbit took a drink. When that happened at night, Whitney would get out of bed and remove the water bottle. As the bottle started to rattle one night, she rose to remove it. Then Whitney remembered the rabbit was up north with other members of the family. There was no cage and certainly no water bottle. Had the rabbit always been responsible for the noise in the past or did someone else like to “rattle the cage”?
Stairway at the Jester’s Court Inn.
The Freemans sold the business in 1986 to Niki Bainbridge who continued to operate the establishment as a restaurant and to reside in the upstairs of the building with her family until 1997. In that period Niki developed an incredible relationship with several spirits inhabiting the house. Niki often saw the apparition of a thin woman in her 70s. She wore a high-collared blue dress and a long, white bibbed apron. Niki described the clothing as late 19th century. This ghost always had a “heavenly” smile and displayed nothing but kindness in her eyes. Her presence was reassuring and somehow comforting. “When I saw the woman